Microsoft

Senior Silicon Firmware Engineer

Microsoft • $119K — $234K *
Raleigh, NC 27610In-Person
Telecommunications & Hardware
5 - 7 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science plus 1+ year of experience, or equivalent education and experience.
  • Master's degree with 4+ years of relevant experience, or equivalent education and experience.
  • Bachelor's degree with 5+ years of relevant experience, or equivalent education and experience.
  • Proficient understanding of computer architecture and embedded systems design.
  • Expertise in C/C++ for embedded systems, including object-oriented design.

Responsibilities

  • Develop and maintain low-level silicon firmware for custom SoCs in collaboration with hardware and software teams.
  • Architect and implement firmware for various IP blocks while analyzing hardware specifications.
  • Manage firmware development from simulation to production, ensuring performance throughout the silicon lifecycle.
  • Participate in hardware/firmware co-design to optimize integration and partitioning.
  • Adapt firmware across multiple disciplines and manage evolving development needs.
  • Facilitate firmware integration and ensure proper versioning and tracking for stakeholders.
  • Drive automation and tooling efforts to enhance development and validation efficiency.

Benefits

  • Access to advanced technologies and cutting-edge projects.
  • Collaborative work environment with a focus on innovation and growth.
  • Opportunities for professional development and mentorship.
  • Supportive culture emphasizing Agile practices and team accountability.
Full Job Description
Responsibilities

The silicon computing development team is seeking passionate, driven and intellectually curious engineers to join our silicon firmware team covering firmware architecture, development, integration, and quality assurance, for our projects. This team member will be involved in numerous projects within Microsoft developing firmware for custom silicon on a diverse set of systems. We are responsible for delivering cutting-edge, custom SoC designs that can perform complex and high-performance functions in the most efficient manner. In this high impact role on the team, you will be responsible to:

  • Develop, document, review, and maintain low-level silicon firmware in partnership with hardware design, validation, and software teams.
  • Analyze hardware specifications to architect and implement silicon firmware for IP blocks, including bring-up sequences, power management, security flows, and peripheral initialization.
  • Execute firmware development across the full silicon lifecycle - from RTL simulation and FPGA prototyping through emulation, silicon bring-up, and production.
  • Participate in hardware/firmware co-design to define register interfaces, firmware-visible behaviors, and optimal hardware/firmware partitioning during the design phase.
  • Cross multiple firmware disciplines and domains - boot, security, power, telemetry, debug - adapting to evolving needs throughout the development cycle.
  • Perform firmware integration, packaging, and releases to partners and stakeholders with clear versioning and dependency tracking.
  • Build automation and tooling to accelerate development and enable validation partners with maximum code and collateral reuse.
  • Participate in and champion Agile practices emphasizing quality, team accountability, continuous integration, and iterative improvement.
  • Coordinate priorities and activities with cross-functional engineering stakeholders to deliver committed milestones.
  • Collaborate with IP providers to integrate third-party components, resolve specification ambiguities, and align firmware with hardware deliverables.
  • Deliver high-quality, well-tested silicon firmware on schedule with professional integrity - challenge the status quo with a growth mindset.


Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:
  • Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 1+ year(s) technical engineering experience
    • OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience
    • OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience
    • OR equivalent experience.


Other Requirements:

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the following specialized security screenings:
  • Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
  • This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations, the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations. As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their US. residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export-controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate's citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable.


Preferred Qualifications:
  • BS/MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or Computer Engineering with 7+ years of industry experience.
  • Proficient understanding of computer architecture, embedded systems design, real-time operating systems (RTOS), and hardware/software co-validation methodologies.
  • Proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems, including object-oriented design, hardware abstraction layers, and deterministic interface contracts.
  • Experience with debugging tools and techniques for hardware-software integration (e.g., JTAG/SWD, logic analyzers, trace tools).
  • Ability to communicate technical designs and trade-offs effectively across firmware, hardware, and validation teams.
  • Experience developing and validating firmware for standard hardware interfaces (SPI, DDR, USB, PCIe, I2C, CXL).
  • Experience with firmware-side bring-up of new silicon, including pre-silicon emulation and post-silicon debug.
  • Ability to comprehend the full software stack from high-level code through RTOS scheduling to representative assembler instruction streams at runtime.
  • Experience defining and enforcing hardware/firmware interface contracts and compliance test suites.
  • Proficiency in Python for test automation, data analysis, and scripting of validation workflows.
  • Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices applied to embedded/firmware build and test environments, including Azure DevOps (repos, pipelines, boards, and test plans).
  • Familiarity with formal or structured verification methodologies (e.g., model checking, property-based testing, coverage-driven validation).
  • Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical workstreams across firmware and validation disciplines.


#SCHIE #CSME

Silicon Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $160,200 - $261,000 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

About Microsoft

Microsoft is an American multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a range of software products and services. Microsoft’s devices and consumer (D&C) licensing segment licenses the Windows operating system and related software, Microsoft Office for consumers, and the Windows Phone operating system. The company’s computing and gaming hardware segment provides Xbox gaming and entertainment consoles and accessories, second-party and third-party video games, and Xbox Live subscriptions; surface devices and accessories; and Microsoft PC accessories. Its phone hardware segment offers Lumia smartphones and other non-Lumia phones. Its D&C segment provides Windows Store, Xbox Live transactions, and Windows phone store; search advertising; display advertising; Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal; first-party video games; and other consumer products and services as well as operating retail stores. Microsoft’s commercial licensing segments license server products, including Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related Client Access Licenses (CALs); Windows Embedded; Windows operating system; Microsoft Office for business, including Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and related CALs; Microsoft Dynamics business solutions; and Skype. Its commercial segment offers enterprise services, including premier support services and Microsoft consulting services; commercial cloud comprising Office 365 Commercial, other Microsoft Office online offerings, Dynamics CRM Online, and Microsoft Azure; and other commercial products and online services. The company markets and distributes its products through original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and resellers, as well as online.

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Learn more about Microsoft
Size
181,000 employees
Market Cap
$1,762.4 billion
Industry
Enterprise Technology
Net Income
$51.3 billion
Founded
1975
5 Year Trend
+15.5%
Revenue
$153.2 billion
NASDAQ
MSFT
* Ladders Estimates

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